Casserine

by Bernard Lee DeLeo

  Jake began laughing, as Adrian poked Tim with mock anger. “What do you mean legend, Mister?”

  “Ah…Captain Malcolm may have mentioned an incident which took place in one of the storage rooms…” Tim paused as he glanced over at the sudden gasp from Adrian. She had blushed crimson, and was standing stock still in the corridor with Jake’s arm around her shoulder in commiseration.

  “Oh…my…God,” Adrian said in a hushed voice.

  “Easy Dear,” Jake said in a whisper. “You are calling more attention to this by zoning out here in the passageway like a malfunctioning food cart.”

  Realizing Jake was right, Adrian snapped out of her stunned state and began moving again. Tim noticed her color did not pale any.

  “Sorry, Ma’am,” Tim apologized. “She knows a bit about the old movies and tapes Jake has had shipped in since the beginning. I think the Major believes this to be a quirk on Jake’s part, he wishes to draw her into. She knows Risling cares a lot about you two, and he’d go along with anything Jake came up with.”

  “She underestimates the General then,” Jake replied. “I want you and the other Omaha vets at our table, Tim. Will you take care of that for me?”

  “Yes Sir, but I don’t think Major Stedman will like having enlisted pukes at her dining table.”

  “Then she can find another table,” Jake said grimly.

  “Yes Sir,” Tim acknowledged, recognizing the look on Jake’s face.

  Adrian stayed silent as they followed Tim into the mess hall, and into the back of the room where Major Stedman, and her Executive Officer, Captain Brian Jennings, waited to greet them. Jennings snapped a salute to Jake, who he knew well, and in respect for the Medal of Honor. Stedman looked a little put out as she also saluted.

  “Welcome aboard Major, Lieutenant,” Stedman acknowledged them. “I had not heard you were a Medal of Honor recipient, Major. Where did you earn it, if I might ask?”

  “He earned it at Omaha, Ma’am,” Tim put in.

  Stedman glared at Tim for a moment. “Yes, thank you Chief, that will be all.”

  Tim saluted and turned smartly to leave.

  “Major,” Jake interrupted, as he gestured for Tim to stick around a moment. “I would like Tim and the three other Omaha vets to join us after dinner while we watch the movie if you will allow it.”

  “And if I don’t, Major?” Stedman asked irritably.

  “Then I will join them at another table. The importance of this will be made clear after the movie,” Jake answered politely.

  “Very well,” Stedman relented. “Please sit down and join us. Chief, do you know the other crewmembers Major Matthews indicated?”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” Tim replied. “I served with them on Omaha.”

  “You were on Omaha?” Stedman asked incredulously. “You don’t hardly look old enough to have been out of school when Omaha Mining Colony was attacked.”

  “True enough, Ma’am,” Tim admitted. “I was only sixteen when I shipped out for Omaha.”

  “There must have been some special talent you showed to be put in such a situation at so young an age,” Stedman commented.

  “Only that he could fire a deck gun on a Drop Ship,” Jake smiled, “and he was too dumb to be scared.”

  “Yes Sir,” Tim replied smartly. “As the Major says, Ma’am, they really didn’t need geniuses, only bodies.”

  “Assemble the other crewmembers after dinner then, and join us, Chief,” Stedman directed.

  “Aye, aye, Ma’am,” Tim saluted, and after Stedman returned it, Tim turned on his heel and left.

  Adrian sighed in relief as she took a seat next to Jake, facing Stedman and Jennings. Jake shook hands with Jennings before sitting down.

  “Nice to see you, Brian,” Jake said affably. “Hard to believe you would get the XO’s post after Malcolm was transferred, you pirate.”

  Jennings laughed appreciatively, as Adrian watched Stedman for any clue of displeasure, but the Major merely sipped from her beverage as she followed the conversation.

  “He took Claymoore with him, Jake,” Jennings explained.

  Jake nodded. “Makes sense. Those two have been together a long time. Did they ever get married?”

  “Nope, they’re still pretending their mutual admiration society is strictly platonic,” Jennings answered with a laugh. “I guess the only thing that’ll bring that relationship out in the open is if Claymoore gets pregnant. The General allows it, despite the rule against fraternization between command officers on the same ship.”

  “As it should be,” Stedman commented. “It can be very dangerous to have the two people responsible for the entire ship to be involved intimately, especially if some mishap occurred, incapacitating or killing one or the other.”

  Jake nodded. “You make a very good point, Ma’am.”

  Adrian glared at him as he continued. “It has been my experience the chain of command is the first casualty in such a mishap.”

  Jennings burst into laughter, and even Stedman smiled appreciatively at the obvious jibe at Byers. Adrian jammed an elbow into Jake’s ribs, as she smiled menacingly up at him.

  “Please call me Jan,” Stedman requested. “We can be a bit more informal here at dinner. It takes real perseverance to remain on Casserine. I can understand why General Risling sees fit to relax the rules here.”

  The Command table was served dinner as the Tennyson’s crew filed in and out of the mess hall, and selected what they wanted to eat. After eating, the crew returned to their duties to await the showing of the tape Jake had brought on board. Tim led the other Omaha Vets over to the Command table, as a hologram projector was set up in the middle of the mess hall. All of them saluted Jake, who stood and returned their salutes, before shaking hands with the new arrivals with enthusiasm.

  Chief Warrant Officer Bill Russell looked to Adrian to be the oldest, and the closest to Jake’s size. She had only met him once, because he worked in Engineering. His friends, including Jake, called him Salt, short for old Salt as in ancient seafaring days. The nickname fit Russell despite his almost ebony color. Chief Harvey Stassinas projected a distinct contrast to his commander in Engineering. Slim to the point of emaciation, Stassinas stood a full head shorter than Russell. The two of them, Adrian knew from Jake, had been together ever since Omaha.

  Adrian knew Captain Sara Corey the best, because she had met her numerous times during the Captain’s periodic physical exams for flying. As with all the military transports and supply ships as huge as the Tennyson, they each had a small squadron of fighter craft, along with one Drop Ship. Corey flew both craft. Although attractive enough, with short cut brown hair, the intenseness of purpose she gave off inspired respect. She was Adrian’s double physically, except for strength, and she worshiped Jake.

  When around anyone else, Corey could act as hardnosed, and off the cuff as anyone. Around Jake, Adrian saw something, which went far deeper than respect. At first, she figured Corey had a crush on him, but she had come to the realization it was adoration. Jake always made sure he spent a few minutes with her whenever they came on board, and Adrian had always wondered what was behind Corey’s intense feelings toward Jake.

  Corey came over and sat down on the other side of Adrian, after saluting the Tennyson’s Command Officers. “Hey Byers, how the hell are ya?”

  “Same old, same old,” Adrian deadpanned. “You know how it is to be with one of these, one syllable, Neanderthal cretins everyday on the frontier.”

  Corey busted up into the pleasant tittering laugh Adrian loved to hear, and clapped her on the shoulders. “That’s not what I heard, Lieutenant.”

  Adrian froze, sneaking a glance out of the corner of her eyes, looking to see if Stedman was following their conversation, but the Major appeared engulfed in a conversation with her Executive Officer. She turned back to her friend, blushing again furiously. “Not you too, Sara.”

  “Not me too what,” Corey said, pretending innocence. “I would have hauled Jake’s coa
ls in the storeroom any day, and intercom be damned.”

  As Adrian again buried her face in her hands, Corey put an arm around her shoulders, laughing uproariously. “Geeze Byers, loosen up. No one will remember the incident in another thirty or forty years.”

  “Oh thanks.”

  “Anything to help an old friend,” Corey added. “Now tell me, what the hell’s all this movie business about?”

  “I don’t know Sara, but it’s serious. Something about the movie and Omaha are related. Jake will be giving some kind of talk afterwards.” Adrian paused for a moment before going on. “Sara, how did you come to meet Jake?”

  A shadow crossed Corey’s face, and her familiar smile disappeared. “I started to freak out on Omaha. I was piloting a Drop Ship, and we only had half of Third Platoon back on board when the Bugs surfaced only fifty yards from our LZ. We had learned the hard way to only put down on solid rock. This happened on my second mission, and I had not seen the damn things before. I started to take off with men still on the ground, and others hanging in the hatch. All of a sudden this armored Marine Sergeant came pounding into the cockpit. He ran right over my Navigator, and pulled back the throttle, yanking me with it. It was Jake.”

  “Not the first meeting I had envisioned,” Adrian said in a hushedvoice.

  ‘Tea, I know what you mean,” Corey replied, running both hands through her cropped hair. “He stabilized the rig and leaned around so he was staring in my face, with this big shit eatin’ grin. He says, ‘Hey Corey, I got to kill some Bugs. Can you hang here for a few more minutes?’ I nodded like a big dummy, and he tore out of the hatch and hit the ground with a few others from his squad. Chief Dougherty was my gunner. He was already raking the surfacing Bugs. Jake’s squad opened up with mortars and the new particle beam blasters. They wasted the bastards until the rest of Third Platoon could board.”

  Corey laughed, and shook her head as she looked over at Jake, talking animatedly with Tim, and the two men from Engineering. “Right in the middle of all that, with the Bugs still vomiting out of the ground, the big Jarhead turns around and waves at me like we were back at the chow hall on the ship. We get everyone on, and Jake comes running up front. ‘Time to go Corey, let the Cruisers have the rest.’ I lifted off just before the Cruiser swept down for its first pass. They vaporized about a zillion of the damn things. Of course that was before we knew the Queen cranked them out as fast as we were killing them.”

  “I piloted the Drop Ship later on, with Jake and his men, when they went into the nest to get the Queen. They were dead silent in the back. I don’t think any of those guys ever thought they’d come back.”

  “And they still went in,” Adrian whispered, “into a bottomless pit, filled with monsters.”

  Corey nodded in agreement. “The Cruisers flamed everything around the nest, and then we set down on the only rock surface near the nest, about a hundred yards away. The Bugs poured out of the entrance, drawn to Jake’s men. The Cruisers did everything they could, but a bunch of Marines died horribly between our Drop Ship and the entrance. I never thought I’d see Jake or any of the others again. They were all just kids.”

  “About an hour later, the Bugs which had been coming up out of the ground in waves, suddenly just wandered around while the Cruisers flamed them. Jake, and four others came staggering out of the nest only moments later. They had to mostly drag Jake. He had only pieces of clothing on. Even one of his boots had been sliced off. I visited him on the Med Ship when I transported some of the other casualties. One look at him, and I never figured he’d live, but then I gave up on him at the nest too.”

  “I’m sorry I brought it up,” Adrian replied. “Jake explained some of what happened when I first met him, but it’s a whole different thing hearing about it from someone else who was there. Thanks Sara.”

  “No big deal,” Corey shrugged. “Omaha, the skirmishes at the Tarawa Jump Gate, and the two attacks here on Casserine have made Jake into a legend. We were the ones who came in to transport him to base after the fuel pirates attacked here the first time. The Force Cruiser transferred him to us because they had to stay to guard the fuel cells, and the Doc on board their ship thought he was a goner. He never regained consciousness on our way back to the base.”

  “I heard he killed the pirates in the warehouse with a knife,” Adrianadded.

  ‘Tea,” Corey chuckled. “They were like sitting ducks, from what the guys on the Cruiser told us. The more time in the gravity, the slower they moved. He carved them up until the last guy gave up trying not to blast him, and Jake still managed to gut him after the guy put that furrow in Jake’s head. When he brought down the Fuel Pirates’ ship with that MAG50, saved your butt, and then captured the rest with the threat of blowing them up in your living quarters, he cemented his name in the Jarhead Hall of Fame. Do you think he would have really blown up the living quarters to get them?”

  Adrian began laughing. “I told him, ‘Jake, don’t you dare blow up my living quarters’.”

  Byers burst into laughter, clapping Adrian on the back again. “Oh God, I would have paid real money to have seen Jake’s face when he heard that. I…”

  “Your attention please,” Major Stedman said loudly, bringing the room to silence instantly. “They’re ready to begin the movie. Please stay put. Major Matthews will be speaking to you for a moment afterwards.”

  Starship Troopers began without further fanfare. It had been converted into a hologram projection, which could be experienced from all around the center table. At first, the movie drew many laughs, and catcalls. Some of the crew were commenting jokingly about Jake’s choice of movies.

  Jake, for his part, laughed as hard as any of them at some of the show’s opening scenes dealing with space age boot camp.

  When the Bugs attacked the Marines in the movie, there was raucous laughter. Adrian had started to chuckle when she heard a gasp from Corey, who now sat gripping the sides of her chair, white faced. Adrian looked behind her, where Stedman and Jennings were enjoying a laugh at the old movie monster menace. In front of them, Jake, Dougherty, Stassinas, and Russell sat in stunned silence, leaning forward with their fists clenched in front of them. By the end of the movie, Corey had turned away from the hologram images, cringing even at the sound. Adrian put a hand on her arm, and Corey turned a terror stricken face towards her friend.

  “What’s wrong Sara? Tell me,” Adrian whispered.

  “Christ, Byers, the things on Omaha were just like those Bugs in themovie.”

  Adrian looked back at the final scenes in horror, thinking it could not possibly be true. Tim had turned away, as he sat next to Jake, and lifted his drink cup to his mouth with a shaking hand. Stedman and Jennings had begun to realize something was wrong, as Jake, Russell, and Stassinas watched the rest of the movie in a tense, frozen posture. Someone illuminated the room again at the end of the movie, as most of the crew were laughing and joking around. Jake stood up and went to a speaker’s podium, which had been set up off to the right side of the mess hall, where everyone could see him. He held up a hand for silence. The grim look on his face did more to hush the room than his gesture.

  “As some of you know, Captain Corey, Chief Warrant Officer Russell, Chief Stassinas, and Chief Dougherty joined me in a little exercise on the Omaha Mining Colony. General Risling also did some time there, and he sent us this movie to watch,” Jake explained. “He told me I was to talk to you all after the movie as if I would know what to say. After seeing this old movie, I know what he meant.”

  Jake’s hands closed around the border of the podium, as he leaned on it. “I am to inform you the Tennyson will be going to the new mining colony at Bougainville. There has been another Bug attack there, just like at Omaha. Five hundred men, women, and children died before they could leave the surface on the escape craft.”

  There were gasps as the Tennyson crew remembered the horror stories, which still were whispered in hushed tones about what happened on Omaha. Jake went on.

>   “I was ordered to let you all know about that, and one other fact.” Jake straightened a little. “Those things at Omaha were exactly like the creatures in tonight’s movie.” He paused as crewmembers leaped to their feet and others shook their heads in disbelief.

  “The Bugs on Omaha didn’t spit rocks into orbit and destroy our ships, nor did they drag us down to their Queen to have our brains sucked. They fed on us. Yes, they ripped us apart like the ones did to the Marines in the movie, but they also ate us. They attacked in hordes from right under our feet, and boys and girls, they looked just like those creatures in Starship Troopers. I have no idea how such a vision could have been foreseen hundreds of years ago, but the special effects in the movie look uncannily correct. Although I am sure if we froze each frame and my fellow Omaha adventurers at the Command table were to go over them closely, we could remember some differences.”

  “They attacked in hordes, only we had no warning, or very little. They welled up out of the ground like lava from a volcano, wave after wave. They did not have tank like creatures as in the movie, or flying ones, thank

  God; but unlike the movie, the Bugs on Omaha did not hesitate for a moment, except when they were feeding.”

  A female Lieutenant, wearing communication’s designation stood up near Jake. “Sir, why show us an old movie, and not reference from the real thing?”

  “All video reference to the war on Omaha was destroyed Lieutenant, or General Risling would have sent it out. God only knows how he came across this old video. General Risling ordered me to contact him directly after I returned to Casserine, after showing the movie. I am sure he will be conversing with Major Stedman too.” Jake looked back to where his fellow Veterans from Omaha sat in grim silence, and addressed them directly. “Did I cover the basic details correctly? Do any of you four want to add anything?”

  Captain Corey stood up. “I hope we have a better plan for Bougainville than using the Marines for bait.”

  Jake smiled for the first time since the movie started. “Me too, Sara, me too.”